Rise of the Phoenix
by Dragonflysoul
Summary: He cries out every night for him. For his brother. Every single night. Post 5.22. Chapter 3 up!
1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Phoenix: Part One

Author: dragonfly  
Genre: Angst, drama, h/c, 5x22 tag  
Summary: He cries out every night for him. For his brother. Every single night.  
A/N: This first section is from Lisa's pov, however it's truly about Sam and Dean.

Thank you so much to Lynne and Sid for your support. I have plans to continue this story, but this chapter can be read as a stand-alone. For anyone wondering about GNM—I'm still working on it.

For anyone interested, I have a new spn music video up on my lj. **"People All Get Ready"** _"We have all the love in the world, to set alight, to set alight." Love vs. Apocolypse. Bring it on._ The link can be found on my profile page. Thanks!

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He tries to hide it. But I know.

It's been four months since I opened my door to a broken man. Four months since he cried in my arms and clung to me as if he might just die if he didn't. Four months of haunted stares and trembling hands. He never told me what had happened. He never told me what had brought him to my door a shadow of the man I remembered. He'd only say that, "Sammy did it," when I'd ask and both pride and pain would tear at his features before he'd walk away.

He cries out every night for him. For his brother. Every single night. I can only hold witness as his nightmares take grip. He never responds to me, never wakes from my touch— too lost in a past he can't change. I asked him once what all happened with Sam…where Sam went, but he only paled and walked out the door. He's always walking out that door…if only in his mind. I can feel it. I didn't see him the rest of the night, but I knew where he was—where he always was when not pretending to be whole; digging in the trunk of that Impala, looking at books and pictures. Looking for answers I don't even know the questions to.

He looks at Ben the same way I do. A gentle smile of wonder and love when he does something that tugs at the heartstrings, but I know it's not my son he's seeing. It's _his_—in every essences of the word. I remember Dean telling me before that he had practically raised Sam. But I know now that he did much more than that. He _lived_ for him.

He tries to hide it, but I know. It takes a parent that truly thought they had lost their child…to recognize someone that _has_.

He drinks more, _a lot_ more than he should, but I'm not the one that has lost the purpose of my soul. He never actually appears drunk and he's great with Ben _and_ me, so I keep quiet for now and pray to God for him to find peace.

I never imagined that he'd actually send it.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Part two is from Cas' pov...which was verra, VERRA difficult for me. Hope it works. Thank you bff, sid and Lynne for your support! *huggles* All mistakes are mine. And darn it. This one shot turned into a mega bunny. So far, however, I believe these chapters can be read as stand alones. Thanks so much! _

_If anyone is interested, I'm still working on GNM. Thank you **so much **everyone who reads, reviews, pokes and threatens me with chocolate. It helps to keep the keyboard tappin'._

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**Rise of the Phoenix: Part Two**

I found Dean in the restroom. He was throwing water on his face, poorly trying to conceal the pain he carried from Lisa and the boy. His attempts were even less effective on me. I could see the tears, so to speak, that his brother's sacrifice had left on his heart. And they were only widening with time.

But Dean was a stubborn son of a bitch. Sam Winchester had declared this often. And he'd act the part his brother wanted him to…for now. Until the answers he sought so fervently revealed themselves to him.

I have been around a long…_long _time, but never have I learned more than at the Winchesters' side. One of which, was that _both _boys were stubborn sons of bitches.

Another was doing what was _right._

He jumped when he saw me in the mirror.

"Jeez, Cas!" He turned around. "What'd I tell you about personal time?"

Oh, yeah. I had learned that too.

"He's waiting for you."

Tears rushed to irrevocably troubled eyes and his face lost what little color it had. "You think I don't know that?" His voice trembled. "Every second of every damn day I hear him screamin' in my head, _beggin'_ me to sa…" His breath caught and I felt his heart lurch with impotence and grief. Clenching his jaw, he turned around. His shoulders bowed as he leaned heavily on the marble countertop.

My own head tilted as I studied him. His body had been broken beyond human repair by Lucifer, and his soul…severed when Sam threw himself into hell.

His body I was able to repair. However, some things were beyond even an angel's Grace.

But not a little brother's.

"Tell me, Cas," he looked up at me through the mirror's reflection and pleaded like I've only known him to do for Sam. "Tell me you found a way. That that's why you're here. 'Cause I sure as hell haven't."

His grief, even after all of these months was all consuming. Overwhelming. I regretted that we were not able to intervene sooner. "He's waiting for you," I repeated softly. "_Outside_."

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Sam hadn't moved from where I had left him. Standing next to the streetlight, the look on his face was oddly hard to discern. I sensed acceptance in his heart. I also sensed longing. Most troubling was what I saw in his mind. He still believed he was in hell.

Considering he was found where even the most powerful of God's angels feared to tread, his somewhat detached state was hardly a revelation. He also…

The human mind can only take so much. Even an extraordinary one.

I could hear Dean running through the house from where I had left. He was out the front door and down the steps before Lisa could rise from the table. I was surprised when he stopped mere feet from his brother. His chest was heaving. His eyes were bright—this time…with hope.

"Sammy?" he breathed, taking in every inch of him, seeing what only a brother could. Seeing what only a man that had raised him could.

Sam watched him warily. Recognition was in his eyes, but so was uncertainty. His mind had conjured up this moment innumerable times during the centuries he had spent in hell.

"Sam?" Worried now, Dean moved closer to his brother… and everything began to shake. The earth, the _air, _the boys. It felt as if the world was starting to…right itself.

Alarmed by Dean's proximity, Sam took an unsteady step backwards. The only true reality, the only _constant_ he had known for decades was…well, unimaginable. _Hope_ had only come when his mind went. And even then, it was briefly. Dreams could last only so long and Sam's had always ended with Dean's much needed touch.

Undeterred, Dean stepped closer and the shaking increased. Car alarms sounded, dogs barked. Remarkably all went seemingly unnoticed by the boys. "Sammy?" Even Dean's voice shook as he reached a hand out slowly, so not to startle him, and wrapped it firmly around his arm.

I could see Sam tense right before the touch, but as Dean's fingers squeezed and hope failed to dissipate, Sam looked him in the eyes for the first time. A dizzying rush of emotion swept across his face and heart. Then ever so slowly—as if still fearing another reality would suddenly materialize and steal his brother away—he lowered his head and what was left of his battered soul onto Dean's shoulder. In that instant, Sam Winchester became the little brother again. And Dean Winchester became whole.

I watched then as their arms encircled each other with a force born of too many grief filled nights. And just as suddenly as it had started, the world stilled. It was as it should be again.

I had rarely seen them show their affection for each other in such a physical manner and I felt myself smile. It was _their_ bond that had saved the world. For centuries, _Heaven_ had depended on _betrayal_ as it's' saving grace.

Two young men, two brothers, two _humans_ had proven Heaven wrong. For the first time in my long existence, I understood why my Father loved these creations of his as much as he did.

"Sam?" Dean's grip visibly tightened. The world may have stilled, but both boys still trembled. "Sammy?"

Face hidden in Dean's collarbone, Sam could do no more than cling back. His mind was a whirlwind of terror, agony and confusion. He couldn't grieve, he couldn't rejoice. His brother's presence was the only thing keeping him from screaming. Not surprising, I wasn't the only one that could sense this.

A brother's bond is mightier than an angel's sword. This too I have learned.

"It's okay," Dean whispered, voice ragged even as I could feel the fissures of his heart begin to close. "I'm right here." His hand squeezed the back of Sam's neck and his voice gained strength. "I'm right here."

"Dean?" Lisa was standing on the sidewalk, uncertainty and worry heavy on her posture as she held her son close. "S'everything all right?"

Imitating his brother, Dean hid his own face in Sam's hair. "Yeah," he rasped, closing his eyes and hugging him closer still. "Yeah."

I am uncertain how he could have expected Lisa to hear him, but perhaps some things didn't need to be learned, but were in fact obvious. He had his brother back after all.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter doesn't progress the story. (Argh, annoying, yes? Sorry.), but it's from Ben's pov and I'm tired of looking at it in my wips. The next chapter will definitely progress. This is actually going to _eventually_ lead to a separate, multi-chapter mega AU. *rubs hands together excitedly* (Okay, I guess it's already AU, but it'll be even_ more_ AU. *glee*) Thanks for reading!

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Rise of the Phoenix: Part Three

Dean…he's about as cool as you can get. His music collection rocks, he can _always_ make my mom smile…even if she's mad at me, and he helped me build _Zep_ for the derby. I won, by the way. Naturally.

Dean, though…he's sad. He tries to act like everything is okay, but I'm not stupid. I'm _ten_. He looks how I felt when I lost the most important piece to my favorite…action figure, but _worse._ That ain't right, man.

And that…action figure was never the same—like it didn't know how to work without that _one_ piece. And dude, replacement parts were _not _sold separately.

Dean, he's always staring off into space. Sometimes he gets this look in his eyes like my best bud Max does when he gets a crazy idea in his head…that'll usually get us into loads of trouble. Most of the time, though, he looks how our neighbor Mr. Robinson did after Mrs. Robinson died.

"_Lost," _Mr. Robinson had answered when my mother had stopped to ask how he was one afternoon. He wouldn't even look at us, or the pie my mom had made, he just stared across the yard at the flowers his wife had planted probably before I was born.

Mr. Robinson had always gone on and on about how his wife had owned his heart since the day they had met at some fair. I wondered if she had forgotten to give it back before she died.

I wondered about Dean's heart and where it was.

I tried to find out what was wrong with Dean. I asked my mom.

"_He misses Sam, baby." _

His brother. I remembered him. The giant. _"What happened?" _

_Her own face grew sad and she shook her head. "I don't know." _

So I asked the mailman. He'll usually explain things to me when my mom won't. Well…except why Jenny Shaw slapped me when I asked her if I could… never mind.

Leaning on the mailbox, the mailman and I split a cookie.

After filling him in on the Dean situation, he didn't have any idea what happened to Sam either. So, I asked,_ "Will Dean get better?" _

_He frowned, "It's not a matter of getting better, Ben."_

"_Then what?"_

"_It's a matter of…getting on. With life." _

I lowered my cookie. "_Well, how long will that take?" _I'll admit it. I was worried about the guy.

_He shook his head. "Years. Never. Hard to say. He and his brother close?"_

I nodded. I didn't tell him I thought Sam was Dean's missing piece.

Months went by and I still never found out what had happened to Sam. Information is hard to come by these days. The swing set used to be a _goldmine _for information. The adults would just push and talk as if we didn't have ears. Sometimes it sucks getting old.

All summer it was just the three of us. Until that Friday.

Like he does most nights, Dean excused himself from the table. But the next thing mom and I know, the dude is running out of the house like ACDC just pulled up to the curb.

Then the house began to shake. Mom and I bolted. But quick.

We found Dean outside with two other men. One of them I recognized. It was Sam—Dean's missing piece. The other guy wore a long trench coat. He had to be hot in that thing.

Sam…he looked bad, real bad and somehow…small. His face was buried in Dean's neck and they both held onto each other like they were afraid something would tear them apart. It would have to go through me first—because for the first time in like _ever_, when my mom asked Dean if he was okay, though he sounded kinda choked…I believed him when he said yes.

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The end.. for now;)


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